Young people like Sam, Jennifer and Khalique are reflected in a recent, encouraging report from the Minnesota Department of Education. They are among the hundreds of youngsters I’ve met over the past few years who used Minnesota’s dual-credit courses (for high school and college). A new study fr...Read More

New ideas, attitudes and opportunities are coming for Minnesota students. That was a central theme at the Feb. 6 “Pathways to Postsecondary” conference, cosponsored by the Minnesota Department of Education and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system....Read More

It was quite a bipartisan celebration. From Brainerd, Crystal, Golden Valley, Forest Lake, Princeton and the Twin Cities, students and adults danced, sang and spoke at a meeting in St. Paul on Jan. 28 about the value of Minnesota’s various forms public school choice. The ceremony was part of Natio...Read More

The friendship of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and evangelist Billy Graham was just one of many unexpected things I learned about at a recent terrific Minnesota History Day celebration at a St. Paul high school. For people interested in youngsters, schools and learning with four or five hours to share...Read More

Many things impressed me as I marched with thousands of others in St. Paul on Jan 19, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but what pleased me most were the hundreds of participating families. Parents from cities and suburbs brought their youngsters – some appearing as young as 6 or 7. The parents were...Read More

People like Betsy Picciano, Paul Weinzierl, Bill Wilson and John Schultz are among Minnesota’s education heroes. They’re examples of leaders who have used Minnesota’s pioneering laws to help thousands of Minnesota high school students earn free college credit, up to and including a two-year As...Read More

Familiar, sad and urgent. Those three words describe my reaction as a former high school history teacher to recent events around the “Black Lives Matter” campaign. From the Mall of America, to threats by the Bloomington city attorney, to deaths of African Americans and New York City police, ther...Read More

Sadly, a statewide Minnesota agency has not provided accurate information for more than two years about dual-credit courses that can save families thousands of dollars and help many more students succeed in colleges and universities....Read More

Families, high school students and educators would be wise to spend five to 10 minutes reading Bill Blazar’s recent comments about jobs in Minnesota. Blazar is interim president of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce. In December, he described the large and growing number of technical jobs available...Read More

Too many Minnesotans are spending thousands of dollars to earn a degree in fields where there are not many well-paying jobs. And we need to do a far better job of helping more students graduate with some form of higher education certificate or degree....Read More